Many technologies require the use of thin, uniform coatings, which are typically prepared using chemical vapor deposition and other techniques in which sublimation is a key step. When performing research in these areas, there is a need to rapidly screen thousands of chemicals for their ability to sublime. Currently, it takes several hours using commercially available apparatus to determine if a single compound will sublime. When taking a combinatorial approach to finding suitable compounds, the testing time is slow and labor-intensive. There is a need for a method to rapidly and easily screen large numbers of compounds for the ability to sublime at particular conditions. In particular, there is a need for a method that can detect the presence of the sublimed materials clearly and rapidly, and that can be easily assembled and cleaned.